TIFU by bringing a cat to a budget hotel

I (28M) am a US citizen who's been working in the UK for the past two years. I made the decision to move back home and am finally on the road back home. The catch? I brought my cat (F5) with me. The UK is super strict about how animals can enter and exit the country, and I'm super protective of my cat, so I have to fly into and out of the EU in order to have her ride in the cabin of the plane with me and have her with me the entire time.

The journey up to this point has been stressful for me and my cat. In addition to everything that comes with leaving a toxic work environment and mental health struggles, I spent all of last week getting everything removed from our London flat. Monday, she had a vet appointment to get cleared to travel and then had a hotel stay. Tuesday (yesterday), we had a seven-hour car ride from our hotel in London to the new hotel in a town near CDG airport. The idea for the French leg of our trip was that we would arrive on Tuesday, spend the day in France on Wednesday, and then fly out on Thursday so she could get a day free from cat jail (her carrier) and I could get a day to sightsee because who knows when I'll get the chance to see Paris again.

Anyway, because two years of living abroad has really eaten into my finances, I booked us some budget hotels to save some money. The budget hotel in London was fine. It's a chain hotel we stayed at when I first moved to the UK, the rooms are drab but functional, and there is no space between the bedframe and the floor. The budget hotel in France is a little less comfortable with less amenities and space, but a bed is a bed and €6 for a lift to the airport is a steal. However, it should be noted that there is space under the bed and that the mattress sits on a box spring with a dust cover underneath.

Our first night in the hotel was uneventful. My cat got dinner that she ate happily, she investiagted her travel litterbox, we got to bed early, I got some good cat snuggles, and everything seemed like it would be fine this morning based on all prior experiences here. Because everything was basically fine, I went ahead and left to grab some breakfast for a convenience store thinking she would be able to just chill out.

I got back to my room around half an hour later. I could hear the bell on her collar, but I couldn't see her, so I knew she was safe in the room. I assumed she was probably under the bed because it's a space that's hard for humans to get into because it's low to the ground and there's not much space between the bed and the walls. I had my breakfast, rechecked my route for my day trip, and got ready to head out. The last thing I wanted to do before I left was to lay eyes on my cat and have some pets and a pep talk before I headed out.

Was she under the bed? Technically yes, but more like IN the underside. My idiot daughter either found and enlarged or created a tear in the dust cover and decided it would be a good place to hang out. How did I know? Her little fat rolls were peaking out of the tear and the fabric had enough give to show me where the underside of her "hammock" was.

I immediately started to panic but tried to play it cool and do what I know. I tried opening up the bag of dry food I brought for her and scooping it to entice her with the sound. Nothing. I do the same with a bag of treats. Nothing. I sat on the ground and try to talk to her softly and gently. Nothing. I tried to fish her out of her hidey hole. She moved to the other side of the bed. Fuck.

I went to the front desk and tried to get some help. I speak a decent amount of French, but I panic better in English and fortunately the hotel staff could mostly understand me. I got the front desk person to come into the room and investigate and see what she could do. She gave me some dog treats to coax my cat out with. My idiot daughter would either try to paw at it or try to stick no more than her snoot out to bite the treat. The front desk person brought a broom to try to my cat toward the tear in the dust cover, so my cat naturally went everywhere else but. We tried to lift the bed and combine that strategy with the treat and the broom. No dice, just sniffed treats and hanging out past the gash in the fabric. I even tried to coax her out with wet food while two people lifted up the bed for me. This feline bitch was having none of it.

Eventually the hotel maintenance staff decided to leave and see if the kitchen had any meat or cheese they could coax my cat out with. So I panicked and cried again before remembering I had brought my cat's laser pointer toy that she loves. I set a dog treat near the gash in the fabric and got the laser pointing at it. Apparently the laser was the secret sauce because it was only then that she fully exited the dust cover hammock, just in time for the hotel maintenance staff to return with a small plate of brie and ham. As soon as my cat got to the edge of the underside of the bed, I made my move, grabbed my idiot daughter, and yote her into her carrier. Success! The entire ordeal from discovery to rescue took around an hour and fifteen minutes.

The hotel staff left the small plate in the room for the cat anyway and I immediately set to cat-proofing the environment as best I could. My daughter lacks gratitude, so the ham and brie went to feed her stressed-out father.

We still have one night here, so I'm a bit nervous about my daughter trying something again, but I've done what I can to keep her safe albeit slightly perturbed. I'm also shuddering to think what this will do to my hotel bill. At least I hope I gave the hotel staff a wicked story to tell at parties. Wish us luck during our flight tomorrow, we have nine hours in the sky ahead of us.

TL;DR: my stressed out cat clawed and got into the box spring and it took three people, many food items, and a laser pointer to get her out.